Cholera cases reported in Cuba, health officials say

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Health authorities have closed down food stands in the capital's affected areas

The last cholera outbreak ended in August, officials said

Before then, the bacterial infection hadn't been seen for more than 100 years in Cuba

Cuban authorities said Tuesday the infectious and sometimes deadly disease cholera had struck in Havana, after declaring in August that an earlier cholera outbreak had been wiped out.

A statement from the Cuban Health Ministry said so far there were 51 confirmed cases in the new outbreak. The statement did not say if anyone had died from the disease, a bacterial infection of the small intestine, which causes severe diarrhea and vomiting in infected people.

The Health Ministry statement Tuesday said the latest outbreak appeared to be caused by a food vendor who had not followed proper sanitary procedures.

Residents in some of the neighborhoods where the outbreak occurred told CNN that food stands had been closed down and stations set up at the entrances to buildings for people to disinfect their shoes.

The statement said that health workers were in the "extermination phase" of fighting the disease in the Cuban capital, which has a population of 2 million people.